Location

Stage theme(s)

Statistics

Level number

Number of acts

Enemies

Boss fight

Looks like Robotnik hasn't even had time to place the Flickies into robots here. Sonic must be catching up to that evil genius! Bounce on the containers to free the Flickies inside, and make sure to avoid the bubble guns infesting the area. — Description, Sonic 3D Blast manual[1]

Contents

Description

Panic Puppet Zone has a different Act structure to the preceding Zones; the first Act has Sonic rescuing Flickies that haven't been turned into Badniks yet, and are simply held captive in containers instead of Badniks (Robotnik had no time to turn them into Badniks). In the second Act, there are no birds to free, and all the player must do is reach the end of the Zone. Robotnik has deployed an army of robots to stop Sonic in his tracks, and there are only a few Rings to be found in the Zone.

This Zone is the core of the Doctor's operation on Flicky Island; a massive military/industrial complex bristling with conveyor belts, turrets, and trapdoors. At the very center of the Zone lies a gigantic, Robotnik-shaped tower, reminiscent of the one constructed in Stardust Speedway's Bad Future on Sonic the Hedgehog CD. In terms of gameplay, it is essentially a palatte swap of Gene Gadget Zone but with different badniks and a few new features.

Boss

The third Act is the boss inside the Robotnik statue itself. It consists of three parts; the first part has the arms of the robot designed as spiked maces. Sonic must get near one to lure Robotnik into dropping it, then hit the flashing siren on the arm's shoulder to damage it.

The second part uses flamethrowers; the same fire that the Doctor weaponized for use in Volcano Valley. When Robotnik's machine blows flames, Sonic must hit the flashing shoulder-pad again.

In the last part, Robotnik uses an ice cannon. The cannon can shoot multiple frozen bullets that bounce around on the floor and spread out. Sonic must stay in the corner of the cannon that's firing, as the pellets don't tend to ricochet in that direction.

Each flashing shoulder-pad must be hit a total of three times each in every part. After the player beats Dr. Robotnik, the normal ending of the game begins. However, if the player has collected all of the Chaos Emeralds, the text that accompanies the final boss's appearance is different, and Sonic will be transported to the The Final Fight.